Electronic Devices With Environmental Sensors

ABSTRACT

An electronic device may be provided with environmental sensors. Environmental sensors may include one or more environmental sensor components and one or more acoustic components. Acoustic components may include a speaker or a microphone. Environmental sensor components may include a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, or other sensors or combinations of sensors for sensing attributes of the environment surrounding the device. The environmental sensor may have an enclosure with an opening. The enclosure may be formed from a rigid support structure and a portion of a printed circuit. The opening may be formed in the rigid support structure or the printed circuit. The opening in the enclosure for the environmental sensor may be aligned with an opening in an outer structural member for the device. The outer structural member may be a housing structure or a cover layer for a device display.

BACKGROUND

This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, toelectronic devices with environmental sensors.

Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, portable computers, andtablet computers are sometimes provided with audio components such asmicrophones and speakers. Audio components are often mounted behind openports in the device that allow sound to pass through the ports to orfrom the audio components.

In some situations it may be desirable to provide a device withenvironmental sensors such as thermometers for sensing the temperatureof the environment in the vicinity of the device. Environmental sensorsmay require additional open ports in a device that allow interactionwith the surrounding environment. However, additional open portions in adevice can increase the risk of unwanted environmental materials such asmoisture entering the device.

It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improvedenvironmental sensors for electronic devices.

SUMMARY

An electronic device may be provided with electronic components such asenvironmental sensors. An environmental sensor may include multiplesensor components such as a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, ahumidity sensor and a sound sensor (microphone). The sensor componentsmay be mounted within an enclosure that at least partially surrounds thesensor components. The enclosure may have an opening that allows soundand/or other environmental materials such as air to enter the enclosureand interact with the sensor components. The enclosure may include arigid support structure and portion of a printed circuit such as aflexible printed circuit.

The sensor components may be attached to the printed circuit. Conductivestructures such as wire bonds may be used to electrically couple contactpads on the sensor components to other sensor components and/or to theprinted circuit. The rigid support structure may be attached to theprinted circuit and pass over the sensor components.

The opening in the enclosure for the environmental sensor may be formedin the rigid support structure or the printed circuit. The opening inthe enclosure may be aligned with an opening in a housing structure forthe electronic device. In this way, a device may be provided withmultiple environmental sensor components and audio components whileminimizing the number of open ports into the interior of the device.

If desired, an environmental sensor may include an output component suchas an audio output component in the enclosure.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantageswill be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device withan environmental sensor in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device withan environmental sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a portion of anillustrative electronic device in the vicinity of an environmentalsensor having an opening in a printed circuit portion of the sensor thatis aligned with an opening in an outer structural member for the devicein accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a portion of anillustrative electronic device in the vicinity of an environmentalsensor having an opening in a rigid support structure of the sensor thatis aligned with an opening in an outer structural member for the devicein accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative environmentalsensor having an opening in a printed circuit portion of the sensorshowing how sensor components may be wire bonded to other sensorcomponents in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative environmentalsensor having an opening in a printed circuit portion of the sensorshowing how sensor components may be wire bonded to other sensorcomponents and to multiple contact pads on the printed circuit portionof the sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative environmentalsensor having an opening in a rigid support structure of the sensorshowing how sensor components may be wire bonded to other sensorcomponents in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative environmentalsensor having an opening in a rigid support structure of the sensorshowing how sensor components may be wire bonded to other sensorcomponents and to multiple contact pads on the printed circuit portionof the sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An electronic device may be provided with electronic components such asbuttons, switches, displays, speakers, microphones, and environmentalsensors. Environmental sensors may be provided that include multiplesensor components and one or more audio components such as a microphoneor a speaker.

The electronic device may include one or more housing structures thatform a housing for the device. The housing structures may have one ormore openings. The environmental sensor may have an enclosure with anopening that is aligned with an opening in the housing structures.

An electronic device may use one or more environmental sensors to gatherenvironmental data associated with the environmental conditionssurrounding the device. As an example, an electronic device may use anenvironmental sensor having a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, ahumidity sensor, a combined temperature and humidity sensing integratedcircuit, a pressure sensor, and/or a sound sensor (i.e., a microphone)to gather environmental data such as temperature data, humidity data,pressure data and audio input data for the device.

The environmental data may be converted to user readable numbers such asa temperature, a humidity level, an air pressure value, etc. The userreadable numbers may be provided to the user (e.g., using a display suchas a liquid crystal display or an organic light-emitting diode display)or may be used in operating the device (e.g., control circuitry in thedevice may place the device in a safe mode of operation in response to adetected temperature that is outside of a predetermined safe range ofoperating temperatures).

An illustrative electronic device that may be provided with anenvironmental sensor having multiple sensor components in an enclosureis shown in FIG. 1. Electronic devices such as device 10 of FIG. 1 maybe cellular telephones, media players, other handheld portable devices,somewhat smaller portable devices such as wrist-watch devices, pendantdevices, or other wearable or miniature devices, gaming equipment,tablet computers, notebook computers, desktop computers, televisions,computer monitors, computers integrated into computer displays, or otherelectronic equipment.

As shown in the example of FIG. 1, device 10 may include a display suchas display 14. Display 14 may be mounted in a housing such as housing12. Housing 12 may have upper and lower portions joined by a hinge(e.g., in a laptop computer) or may form a structure without a hinge, asshown in FIG. 1. Housing 12, which may sometimes be referred to as anenclosure or case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fibercomposites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), othersuitable materials, or a combination of any two or more of thesematerials. Housing 12 may be formed using a unibody configuration inwhich some or all of housing 12 is machined or molded as a singlestructure or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g., an internalframe structure, one or more structures that form exterior housingsurfaces, etc.).

Display 14 may be a touch screen display that incorporates a layer ofconductive capacitive touch sensor electrodes or other touch sensorcomponents (e.g., resistive touch sensor components, acoustic touchsensor components, force-based touch sensor components, light-basedtouch sensor components, etc.) or may be a display that is nottouch-sensitive. Capacitive touch screen electrodes may be formed froman array of indium tin oxide pads or other transparent conductivestructures.

Device 10 may have internal user interface components such as button 17or component 19 that occupy openings such as openings 16 in an optionalrigid cover layer of display 14. Component 19 may be a speaker componentor may be an environmental sensor having at least one sensor componentand a speaker component. Device 10 may include additional componentssuch as components 20 that occupy openings such as openings 22 inhousing 12. Components 20 may be speaker components, microphonecomponents, environmental sensors having one or more sensor components,environmental sensors having one or more sensor components including asound sensor component, or environmental sensors having one or moresensor components and a speaker component.

Housing 12 may be provided with additional openings such as audio portopening 24 for receiving an audio cable and connector port 28 forreceiving a connector (e.g., a 30-pin connector, a universal serial bus(USB) connector, or other connector).

Openings in device 10 such as openings 22 in housing 12 and opening 16for component 19 may be provided with a cover member such as meshmembers 26 that covers the opening while allowing air and sound to flowthrough openings in the mesh member.

A schematic diagram of device 10 showing how device 10 may includeenvironmental sensors and other components is shown in FIG. 2. As shownin FIG. 2, electronic device 10 may include control circuitry such asstorage and processing circuitry 40.

Storage and processing circuitry 40 may include one or more differenttypes of storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory(e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-onlymemory), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory),etc. Processing circuitry in storage and processing circuitry 40 may beused in controlling the operation of device 10. The processing circuitrymay be based on a processor such as a microprocessor and other suitableintegrated circuits. With one suitable arrangement, storage andprocessing circuitry 40 may be used to run software on device 10, suchas internet browsing applications, email applications, media playbackapplications, operating system functions, software for capturing andprocessing images, software implementing functions associated withgathering and processing sensor data such as temperature data, softwarethat makes adjustments to display brightness and touch sensorfunctionality, etc.

Input-output circuitry 32 may be used to allow data to be supplied todevice 10 and to allow data to be provided from device 10 to externaldevices.

Input-output circuitry 32 may include wired and wireless communicationscircuitry 34. Communications circuitry 34 may include radio-frequency(RF) transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits,power amplifier circuitry, low-noise input amplifiers, passive RFcomponents, one or more antennas, and other circuitry for handling RFwireless signals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g.,using infrared communications).

Input-output circuitry 32 may include input-output devices 36 such asbutton 17 of FIG. 1, joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, a touchscreen such as display 14 of FIG. 1, other touch sensors such as trackpads or touch-sensor-based buttons, vibrators, audio components such asmicrophones and speakers, image capture devices such as a camera modulehaving an image sensor and a corresponding lens system, keyboards,status-indicator lights, tone generators, key pads, and other equipmentfor gathering input from a user or other external source and/orgenerating output for a user.

Sensor circuitry such as sensors 38 of FIG. 2 may include ambient lightsensors, proximity sensors, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, environmentalsensors such as sensor packages having multiple sensor components suchas a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and amicrophone, and other circuitry for making measurements of theenvironment surrounding device 10.

In some configurations, some of input-output components 36 and some ofsensors 38 may be mounted in a common sensor package having an enclosurewith an opening.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of device 10 in the vicinityof an environmental sensor package that is aligned with an opening in anouter device structure. As shown in FIG. 3, an environmental sensorpackage such as environmental sensor 50 may include sensor componentssuch as components 64, 68, and 72 mounted to a printed circuit such asprinted circuit 54. Sensor 50 may, as examples, be one of components 19or 20 of FIG. 1. Sensor components 64, 68, and 72 may be covered by acowling structure such as rigid support structure 56 so that components64, 68, and 72 are formed in an enclosure formed by rigid supportstructure 56 and a portion of printed circuit 54.

Rigid support structure 56 may be formed from metal, plastic, ceramic,or other materials or combinations of materials. Printed circuit 54 maybe formed from a rigid printed circuit board (e.g., one or more layersof fiberglass-filled epoxy with interposed conductive layers), aflexible printed circuit (e.g., one or more flexible sheets of polyimideor other flexible polymer layers having conductive traces), or acombination of rigid and flexible printed circuit layers.

Rigid support structure 56 may be attached to printed circuit 54 usingadhesive (e.g., pressure sensitive adhesive, curable liquid adhesive, orother adhesive) or using mechanical attachment members such as screws,clips or clamps (as examples).

Sensor components such as components 64, 68 and 72 may be attached toprinted circuit 54. Sensor components 64, 68, and 72 may be attached toprinted circuit 54 using adhesive, using mechanical attachment members,or using conductive adhesive such as solder, anisotropic conductiveadhesive or other adhesive materials that conductively couple componentssuch as sensor components 64, 68, and 72 to printed circuit 54.

In configurations in which conductive adhesive attaches a component toprinted circuit 54, that conductive adhesive may be used to transfercontrol signals to and from conductive signal lines 78 (conductivetraces) in printed circuit 54 to that component. However, this is merelyillustrative. If desired, printed circuit 54 may be provided withconductive contacts 76 (e.g., copper bond pads) that are formedseparately from components 64, 68, and 72.

Components such as components 64, 68, and 72 may be attached to one ormore other components 64, 68, or 72 or to conductive contacts 76 using,for example, wire bonds such as wire bonds 77. Wire bonds 77 may bebonded on a first end to a contact 76 and on an opposing second end to aconductive contact (not shown) on one of components 64, 68, and 72. Ifdesired, additional wire bonds (not shown) may be used to couple acomponent such as one of components 64, 68 or 72 to another one ofcomponents 64, 68, and 72.

Components 64 and 72 may be environmental sensor components such astemperature sensors (i.e., thermometers), pressure sensors, humiditysensors, combination temperature and humidity sensors, or otherenvironmental sensor components. In one suitable example, component 64is an integrated circuit having temperature and humidity sensingcapabilities and component 72 is a pressure sensor for sensing thepressure of the air within the enclosure formed by printed circuit 54and rigid support structure 56.

Component 68 may be an audio component (sometimes referred to as anacoustic component) such as a microphone (sometimes referred to as asound sensor) or a speaker. Printed circuit 54 may be provided with anopening such as opening 60. Opening 60 in printed circuit 54 may bealigned with an opening such as opening 58 in an outer structural memberfor device 10 such as structural member 52. Structural member 52 may bea portion of housing 12 or a portion of an outer cover layer for display14 of device 10 (see, e.g., FIG. 1). Opening 58 may, as examples, be oneof openings 16 or 20 of FIG. 1. Printed circuit 54 may be attached tostructural member 52 using adhesive or mechanical attachment memberssuch as screws, clips, clamps, or other attachment members (asexamples).

Opening 58 and opening 60 may allow air to flow from outside device 10(e.g., outside of structural member 52) through openings 58 and 60 andinto the enclosure for sensor 50. In this way, sensor components 64, 68,and 72 may be exposed to the environment surrounding device 10 and maytherefore be used to gather temperature data, humidity data, pressuredata, sound data, user input data, or other data from the surroundingenvironment and/or to transmit sound from sensor 50 to the surroundingenvironment.

As shown in FIG. 3, audio component 68 may be mounted over opening 60 inprinted circuit 54. Audio component 68 may include a membrane such aspermeable membrane 70. Permeable membrane 70 may move in response toelectrical signals provided to component 72 from printed circuit 54 togenerate sound that is transmitted out of device 10 through openings 58and 60 or membrane 70 may move in response to sound that enters device10 through openings 58 and 60 and component 72 may generate electricalsignals in response to that movement. Permeable membrane 70 may allowair to flow through membrane 70 into other portions of the enclosure forsensor 50, thereby allowing air from the external environment of device10 to reach additional sensor components such as sensor components 64and 72.

Opening 58 in structural member 52 may be covered by a mesh cover suchas mesh member 26. Mesh member 26 may be formed from wires that arespaced apart so that air and sound can be passed through mesh member 26while larger objects such as dust particles are prevented from enteringdevice 10 through opening 58.

The arrangement of FIG. 3 in which printed circuit 54 is provided withan opening that allows air to enter the enclosure for sensor 50 ismerely illustrative. If desired, rigid support structure 56 may beprovided with an opening that allows air to enter the enclosure forsensor 50, as shown in FIG. 4.

In the example of FIG. 4, rigid support structure 56 is attached tostructural member 52 (e.g., a portion of housing 12 or a display coverlayer for display 14). Rigid support structure 56 may be attached tostructural member 52 using adhesive (e.g., pressure sensitive adhesive,curable liquid adhesive, or other adhesive) or using mechanicalattachment members such as screws, clips or clamps (as examples).

Rigid support structure 56 may be provided with a hole such as opening90. Opening 90 may be aligned with opening 58 in structural member 52 sothat air may flow into the enclosure for sensor 50 (e.g., into the spacebetween printed circuit 54 and rigid support structure 56). Permeablemembrane 70 of acoustic component 68 may be aligned with opening 90 andopening 58 so that sounds generated using membrane 70 may pass throughopening 90 and opening 58 or sounds generated outside of device 10 suchas a user's voice may pass through opening 90 and opening 58 to movemembrane 70.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of environmental sensor 50 in aconfiguration in which sensor components such as components 64, 68, and72 are mounted to a printed circuit having an opening 60, showing howthe sensor components may be coupled to each other and to the printedcircuit using wire bonds 77. As shown in FIG. 5, sensor components 64,68, and 72 may have one or more conductive contacts 92 (e.g., copperbond pads) formed on a surface of the component.

One of wire bonds 77 may be bonded to each contact 92. Sensor 50 mayinclude wire bonds 77C that electrically couple a first sensor componentto a second sensor component and wire bonds 77P that electrically couplea sensor component to one of contacts 76 on printed circuit 54. In theexample of FIG. 5, a wire bond 77C is coupled between contacts 92 onacoustic component 68 and sensor component 64 (e.g., a temperaturesensor, a humidity sensor, or a temperature and humidity sensingintegrated circuit) and an additional wire bond 77C is coupled betweencontacts 92 on sensor component 64 and sensor component 72 (e.g., apressure sensor). In this way, multiple sensor components may beelectrically coupled to a single conductive contact 76 on printedcircuit 54. Sensor signals (e.g., temperature signals, pressure signals,humidity signals and sound signals) may be transmitted across components64, 68, and 72 to contact 76. However, this is merely illustrative. Ifdesired, one or more sensor components such as components 64, 68, and 72may have dedicated electrical connections to printed circuit 54 as shownin FIG. 6.

In the example of FIG. 6, acoustic component 68 is coupled to adedicated contact 76 using one of wire bonds 77P. In a configuration inwhich acoustic component 68 is coupled to a dedicated contact 76,component 64 may be coupled to component 72 using a wire bond 77C andcomponent 72 may be coupled to an additional contact 76 using one ofwire bonds 77P. However this is merely illustrative. If desired, eachsensor component in sensor 50 may be coupled to a dedicated contact 76on printed circuit 54 using wire bonds, solder, or other conductivecoupling members or materials.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of environmental sensor 50 in aconfiguration in which sensor components such as components 64, 68, and72 are covered by a rigid support structure 56 having an opening 90,showing how the sensor components may be coupled to each other and tothe printed circuit using wire bonds 77. In the example of FIG. 7,membrane 70 of acoustic component 68 is aligned with opening 90, a wirebond 77C is coupled between contacts 92 on acoustic component 68 andsensor component 64 (e.g., a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or atemperature and humidity sensing integrated circuit), and an additionalwire bond 77C is coupled between contacts 92 on sensor component 64 andsensor component 72 (e.g., a pressure sensor).

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of environmental sensor 50 in aconfiguration in which sensor components such as components 64, 68, and72 are covered by a rigid support structure 56 having an opening 90,showing how one or more of components 64, 68, and 72 may have adedicated electrical connection to printed circuit 54. In the example ofFIG. 8, membrane 70 of acoustic component 68 is aligned with opening 90,acoustic component 68 is coupled to a dedicated contact 76, component 64is coupled to component 72 using a wire bond 77C and component 72 iscoupled to an additional contact 76 using one of wire bonds 77P. Howeverthis is merely illustrative. If desired, each sensor component in sensor50 may be coupled to a dedicated contact 76 on printed circuit 54 usingwire bonds, solder, or other conductive coupling members or materials.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this inventionand various modifications can be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theforegoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in anycombination.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sensor package, comprising: a printed circuit;a rigid support structure attached to the printed circuit; a firstenvironmental sensor component attached to the printed circuit; and asecond environmental sensor component attached to the printed circuit,wherein the rigid support structure and a portion of the printed circuitform an enclosure that surrounds the first environmental sensorcomponent and the second environmental sensor component and wherein theenclosure comprises an opening that allows air to pass through theopening into the enclosure.
 2. The sensor package defined in claim 1wherein the first environmental sensor component comprises a temperaturesensor.
 3. The sensor package defined in claim 2 wherein the secondenvironmental sensor component comprises a pressure sensor.
 4. Thesensor package defined in claim 3, further comprising an acousticcomponent attached to the printed circuit in the enclosure.
 5. Thesensor package defined in claim 1, further comprising an acousticcomponent attached to the printed circuit in the enclosure.
 6. Thesensor package defined in claim 5 wherein the acoustic componentcomprises a microphone.
 7. The sensor package defined in claim 6 whereinthe microphone comprises a permeable membrane that is aligned with theopening in the enclosure.
 8. The sensor package defined in claim 1wherein the opening comprises an opening in the printed circuit.
 9. Thesensor package defined in claim 1 wherein the opening comprises anopening in the rigid support structure.
 10. The sensor package definedin claim 1, further comprising a speaker attached to the printed circuitin the enclosure.
 11. An electronic device, comprising: a housing havingan opening; and an environmental sensor having an enclosure with anopening that is aligned with the opening in the housing, wherein theenvironmental sensor includes at least one environmental sensorcomponent and an audio component selected from the group consisting of:a speaker and a microphone.
 12. The electronic device defined in claim11 wherein the at least one environmental sensor component comprises atemperature and humidity sensing integrated circuit.
 13. The electronicdevice defined in claim 11 wherein the at least one environmental sensorcomponent comprises a pressure sensor.
 14. The electronic device definedin claim 11 wherein the at least one environmental sensor componentcomprises a temperature sensor and a pressure sensor.
 15. The electronicdevice defined in claim 11, further comprising a printed circuit,wherein a portion of the enclosure is formed from a portion of theprinted circuit and wherein the opening is formed in the portion of theprinted circuit.
 16. The electronic device defined in claim 11 furthercomprising a printed circuit and a rigid support structure attached tothe printed circuit, wherein the enclosure is formed from the rigidsupport structure and a portion of the printed circuit and wherein theopening is formed in the rigid support structure.
 17. A portableelectronic device, comprising: a housing having an opening; wirelesscommunications circuitry in the housing; and an environmental sensor,comprising: a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, and a microphonethat transmits sound through the opening in the housing.
 18. Theportable electronic device defined in claim 17, further comprising aflexible printed circuit, wherein the temperature sensor, the pressuresensor, and the microphone are attached to the flexible printed circuitand wherein the flexible printed circuit has an opening that is alignedwith the opening in the housing.
 19. The portable electronic devicedefined in claim 18, further comprising a wire bond that electricallycouples at least one of the temperature sensor, the pressure sensor andthe microphone to the flexible printed circuit.
 20. The portableelectronic device defined in claim 19, further comprising an additionalwire bond that electrically couples the temperature sensor to thepressure sensor.
 21. The portable electronic device defined in claim 20,further comprising a rigid support structure attached to the flexibleprinted circuit, wherein the temperature sensor, the pressure sensor andthe microphone are interposed between the flexible printed circuit andthe rigid support structure.